1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to plastic film articles such as plastic bags and sheets and their dispensers and systems. More specifically they relate to a unique bag, sheet, and tissue, and their disposable dispenser cartons and permanent dispensers, for example metal, aluminum, and plastic, and their related systems, suitable for use in retail, supermarket, industrial/commercial, restaurant, and other related applications.
2. Background Art
Plastic bags are commonly used in retail applications to carry food and merchandise, and commonly used in self-serve applications such as bakery departments. Plastic bags dispensed from traditional dispenser cartons are typically extracted out of a die-cut portion on the carton's top surface adjacent the front panel. It is commonly known that plastic merchandise bags dispensed from cartons as such tend to stick together when dispensed, thus multiple dispensing of bags is common. This problem is exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,570 (the '570 patent) to DeMatteis (a co-inventor of this application), which quantifies the substantial waste associated with plastic bag dispensing from traditional dispenser cartons. When bags are double-, triple- or multiply-dispensed, it is not uncommon for those bags to be pushed behind the dispenser carton in the store's check-out counter, and subsequently thrown out in the trash, usually by janitorial workers who are doing their job. The bag described in the '570 patent at least provides an improvement over traditional prior art dispenser cartons.
Very little has changed in the last twenty years other than bag manufacturing companies providing dispensing systems comprised of metal racks, hangers, and plastic bag hooks. Examples of these systems are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,290 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,260 (the '260 patent), both to DeMatteis. These systems are generally acceptable in many applications, as is commonly seen in supermarket front end applications, and require space atop counters and other working surfaces, such as a vertical wall. They are considered somewhat of a nuisance to be located atop a working surface and are generally unattractive. At times, separate metal holders and dispensers are used for multiple bag sizes, thus magnifying these issues. Without question, retailers prefer not to have bag dispensers mounted atop working counter tops, or alongside the counters on a vertical surface, and would prefer a carton dispenser hidden out of view under a counter. Likewise, for self-serve applications, for example in self-serve bakeries, it is preferred to have dispenser cartons that fit into the bag compartments located under the pastry cabinets instead of mounting them on some form of external hook or rack. In this particular instance, the appearance of the bakery area is important to retailers, and mounting external holders takes away from an otherwise attractive, clean, professional appearance.
Dispensing bags from traditional prior art dispenser cartons typically take about 10-13 seconds to extract a bag, find the bag mouth opening, grasp the two opposing handles, open the bag, and set it upright on a counter top, ready for loading. This is assuming that multiple bags are not accidentally dispensed and that the two opposing bag walls don't stick together, which foils the ability to grasp the two opposing bag walls and open it up, further increasing the time required to dispense and prepare a bag for loading. This exemplifies why bags dispensed from hooks and racks are more prevalent in higher volume retailers. It is commonly understood that the relatively long time frame to prepare a bag for loading when dispensed from traditional prior art cartons is unacceptable in retail stores, supermarkets, restaurants, and so on. Such a long time frame to dispense a bag, and prepare it for loading, adds up over the course of a year to a rather enormous labor expense for larger retailers.
The use of certain prior art products such as Dual-Tab® bags can significantly improve dispensing as they tend to avoid multiple-dispensing, and the bags also open up when dispensed. This is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,639 to DeMatteis and U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,884 (the '884 patent) to DeMatteis et al. While these bag styles improve dispensing and productivity and reduce waste, they cost more to manufacture and package into their dispenser cartons.
Another merited bag dispensing system is one that dispenses from a hook and leaves no residue (bag tab) behind. This is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,882 (the '882 patent) to Fletcher et al. However, carry bags with or without die-cut handles—not T-shirt bags—in this configuration tear a portion of the bag top as illustrated in FIGS. 9-12 of the '882 patent. This causes two new problems, one being a weakening of the bag top where a die-cut handle is located, and two, it creates an unattractive appearance. The bags disclosed in the '260 patent on the other hand leave no tears in the bag construction and have an attractive wave-top appearance. All of these bag dispensing systems have merit for dispensing bags one-at-a-time and speeding up productivity, but all require some, form of external hook or rack, with the exception of the bag system disclosed in the '884 patent, which has the added cost of a retaining hook system affixed within the carton.
Other one-at-a time dispensing systems for plastic bags include a multitude of roll bag configurations, most of which use a detent as a retainer to separate a bag being dispensed from the next bag on the roll. An example of such a roll bag and dispenser is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,431 (the '431 patent) to Simhaee. Other roll bags are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,371 (the '371 patent) to Daniels and U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,957 (the '957 patent) to Carpenter. While roll bags offer certain efficiencies in manufacturing, they are rarely a consideration for larger, thicker carry bags, and those that require better quality print copy such as those used in department stores and restaurant take out bags. Roll bag manufacturing operations are well-known for their generally inferior print ability. Roll bags also tend to be impractical for use in high volume outlets where productivity is important when dispensing, opening, reading, and loading bags, which is time consuming. Much like the traditional dispenser carton, they take 10-13 seconds to complete the dispensing operation and prepare for loading.
Perhaps the biggest detriment of all external racks and hook dispensing systems, as described for example in the '431, '371, '260 and '882 patents, is the substantial cost to purchase and install the hardware. It also requires reasonably experienced employees to properly install the racks and hooks. The initial cost is usually born by the bag manufacturer, but accounted for in its sales price (and usually with a long-term supply contract). Also, racks and hooks tend to break and require replacement, which replacement costs are subsequently born by the retailer.
In addition to bags being dispensed one-at-a-time, the same benefit holds true for a myriad of tissue sizes and types used in bakery and other sheet uses such as a meat department or deli. Other sheet type applications include tint strips used in the salon trade. Hair stylists use them when applying coloring to a customer's hair. The tint strip is laid atop a lock of hair that has been treated with a tint chemical, which is then folded up in the tint strip. The tint strip prevents the tint chemical from inadvertently touching, and thus tinting adjacent sections and locks of hair. Traditional tissue and sheet dispensing systems are generally like that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,593 (the '593 patent) to Lodewick.
The equipment that manufactures interfolded tissue as described in the '593 patent is generally expensive with fixed sizes. It is conceivable this technology could be used in the bag industry but would be extremely costly. Likewise, changing from tissue to bag manufacturing would be impractical and would most likely require new machinery altogether. There would be little flexibility with sizing in these types of interleaved manufacturing systems.
Plastic bags, tissues, and sheets that are attractive and useful, and can be dispensed from a carton without an additional cost for new bag machines (interleaving or otherwise), machine conversion, hardware installation, added carton expense, and so on, and overcome the numerous problems associated with prior art dispensers would be valuable to these trades and many others.